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Chapter 6: The Illness

The entire floor of the building was filled with mats, close enough that the people laying on them touched shoulders. This is definitely not sanitary. No wonder they don't let anyone in but medics. Even only being in here for seconds, Sakura could already feel herself breathing in the virus.

"Do you want a mask, miss?" Another medic in similar blue scrubs to Yuri stood from beside an unconscious young girl and walked over to Sakura. The man held up a mask but Sakura just smiled.

"No thanks, I got it." She gently moved her chakra through her body, specifically her lungs, to continuously purify her blood. It didn't take much chakra, and with this, she didn't have to worry about herself falling ill.

Sakura walked up to the first mat and knelt beside an elderly woman. The old lady was breathing heavily, sweat trickling down her head and neck. Sakura felt her heart clench, already sensing the infection raging through this poor lady's body. Sakura centered her chakra around her hands and pressed them gently to the patient's chest.

This is not good, Sakura thought as her chakra worked its way through the lady. The virus was running rampant, seeming to have bound with different types of cells. Of course the town's medics couldn't cure these people. This infection was becoming part of the victim's immune system, attacking it from the inside while embedding itself too deep to cut out.

Sakura sighed as she set to work on the first infected cell, painstakingly burning away the virus coating it until the cell was clean. She'd get faster once she knew how to best kill the virus, but for now, she'd have to go through each one.

This might take a while.

Kakashi rotated between slouching against the brick wall beside the door and walking around the perimeter of the hospital. The sun was beginning to sink low in the sky and Sakura had yet to leave the building. With not even a soul around, Kakashi could focus easily on his surroundings, for anything that could potentially be out of the ordinary. But the only thing wrong here was Kakashi's thoughts.

All he could think about was Sakura. Was she pushing herself too hard? Had she stopped to eat something? Using his Sharingan, he could roughly tell how much chakra Sakura had left, which had been slowly decreasing since she started. Her chakra was beginning to dip below a quarter, and Kakashi was starting to think that he would have to intervene or else she'd bleed herself dry. No wonder Tsunade was so adamant that Kakashi kept Sakura from using too much chakra. He doubted that the kunoichi would even realize she was in danger of killing herself. As admirable as that was, Kakashi couldn't help but be frustrated at her lack of self preservation. Not that he should be judging. Ninjas weren't known for their survival instincts, always ready to give up their life for a mission.

Kakashi refused to think about Sakura being one of the many casualties of the shinobi life. The thought almost made him nauseous. His fear of losing another comrade, another friend, seemed to be in overdrive where Sakura was concerned. Why was she different than the rest of the people he knew? Why did he feel different now that he's younger?

Of course he cared for her. She was his student and he got to watch her become one of the best kunoichi in the village. As her old instructor, he should be proud to send her off on dangerous missions, fully confident that she'd succeed in them. But all he really wanted to do was wrap her up in his arms and keep her safe from the harsh realities of the world.

These overprotective thoughts he was having… Kakashi wasn't sure if they manifested due to his younger age and brain, or if he'd always had these feelings and they have just now started to surface.

And Kakashi wasn't sure which one scared him more.

He needed to finish this mission quickly so he could find Migato. Kakashi didn't want his friendship with Sakura to be ruined because he couldn't control his new body. He just needed to become his old age again and then everything could go back to the way it was.

At least, Kakashi hoped that would be the case. He watched the slowly setting sun as a feeble attempt to distract himself from his unbridled thoughts.

Sensing Sakura's charka hitting dangerously low levels, Kakashi was seconds away from dragging the medic nin out against her will when the door suddenly creaked open. Yuri, looking much more haggard than she did this morning, appeared in the doorway, followed by Sakura.

Kakashi ignored Yuri, who was praising Sakura for her incredible work with the patients. Instead, he scanned Sakura, looking for signs of extreme fatigue. Sakura smiled tiredly at Yuri, but other than her fatigue, she seemed okay. Kakashi let out a slow breath.

"We have plans to move the ones you have cured back to town. There should be a few carts on the way if you would like to wait, or you can make your way to the town yourselves. There's a room ready for you both at the inn," Yuri explained.

"I think we can handle the walk. Thank you though, Yuri," Sakura said, already heading toward the direction Yuri pointed.

Kakashi kept pace with her, still analyzing the kunoichi.

"I'm good, Kakashi, promise." Sakura stuffed her hands in her pockets as she walked. Kakashi briefly wondered if that was an innocent act, or to hide her tremors. Either way, he wasn't letting Sakura out of his sight for the rest of the night.

Sakura was exhausted, not that she'd let Kakashi in on that. She had her sights on healing half the people in the building, and she almost did it too. She blamed that goal on her lack of awareness regarding her chakra. It was only when she stood up to get to a new section of mats did she get hit with a wave of dizziness and realize how low her supply was. Cursing herself for being so unaware, she found Yuri and told her that she'd be done for today.

She just hoped Kakashi wasn't paying enough attention to her to notice.

That hope, of course, was shattered as soon as she stepped outside. Kakashi was scrutinizing her studiously. His narrowed eye told her all she needed to know, that he was probably very close to carrying her to the inn.

She heard herself telling Yuri that they were good to walk ahead of the carts, mainly because she wanted a chance to talk to Kakashi alone. As much as she wanted to stay and help load the newly recovered patients into the caravan, she didn't want to show how weak she was currently with her deficient supply. It should only take a few hours to replenish her chakra amount to normal levels, so she wasn't too concerned about it affecting tomorrow.

Besides, now that she knew how to cut the illness out of the body, tomorrow would go much quicker. The idea of getting home a day early was almost intoxicating, it would show everyone how powerful she really was.

"I'm good, Kakashi, promise." Sakura could still feel his eyes on her as they started their trek to the village, and his continuous stare was starting to make her nervous.

"I won't let you get that low again, Sakura." His smooth voice was tight, though she wasn't sure what was laced within it.

Sakura wanted to be angry with him for worrying so much, but she understood where he was coming from. His job, after all, was keeping her safe. And she was making that harder on him by risking herself. "I'm sorry. For leaving without you, for all of today really. I promise I'm not trying to make your life harder on purpose."

Kakashi sighed, shaking his head. "You wouldn't be Sakura if you weren't always so stubborn and headstrong." Kakashi chuckled softly. The throaty sound made her heart skip a beat. In a second where Sakura didn't have a hold on her thoughts, her mind ran wildly with images of Kakashi, of how much he had changed, of how she wanted to explore every part of his new body.

Oh...shit. Sakura turned her face away from Kakashi so he wouldn't see how beat red she had gotten. Her dirty, dirty mind should be in jail for coming up with those illicit fantasies! Maybe she should take Ino up on her standing offer to set her up on a date. It had been... a while since her last intimate contact with the opposite gender. She just needed to blow off some steam. It wasn't Kakashi that was exciting her, just that he looked so young and handsome. It's definitely not Kakashi making her feel this way. Surely not.

The thought still didn't make her feel better.

Sakura let out a satisfying sigh, patting her stomach for good measure. Kakashi suggested they get something to eat once they reached the town, which was only slightly less desolate than the medic grounds. There were no people on the streets or in between the wooden buildings, but they did pass the caravan of empty carts on their way in. There was an innkeeper - a small, elderly man named Kin - at the very least, who was more than happy to give them free ramen bowls for their efforts in helping the town.

Sakura's stomach had growled so loudly that Kin gave her an extra portion of pork, which was equally mortifying and exciting.

The kunoichi watched with half-lidded eyes as Kakashi conversed with Kin, supposedly to get their room keys. The pair were silent during their late dinner, Sakura too consumed with her thoughts to make conversation. Now, she felt like she'd fall asleep at any second on this plush chair.

"Sakura." She jerked, almost falling out of her seat. Sakura blinked. Kakashi knelt beside her, one of his hands dropping from her shoulder. He was eying her with an unreadable expression. "I got us a room. Let's get you to bed before you collapse on the floor."

"I wouldn't do that." She shot back, but with the way her eyes were already starting to close again, she wasn't too confident.

Sakura followed Kakashi up a simple set of wooden stairs, her feet dragging slowly. It wasn't until they reached a door did Sakura realize Kakashi only had one room key.

"We're staying in the same room?" The fog of sleep that has fallen over her vanished, and her voice was pitched an octave higher than normal. With all her inappropriate thoughts earlier, she wasn't certain that sleeping in the same room was a good idea.

Kakashi shrugged, looking almost bored. "You need to get as much rest as possible. It will be easier for me to keep watch from inside the room."

Sakura struggled to keep her emotions in check. He was right, of course. This was a mission first and foremost. She shouldn't be letting her feelings get so out of control. The medic nin nodded as Kakashi proceeded to open the door.

The room was small, but comfortable with a big window on the back that helped to make the room feel bigger. A curtain blocked whatever view was behind it. The room was large enough to fit two beds and a small nightstand on each side, though Sakura wasn't sure if Kakashi was going to use his bed tonight. Sakura herself wasted no time jumping onto the bed. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she let her eyes slide close.

"Did you figure out what might have caused the illness?" Kakashi's voice drifted to her from the other side of the room, but Sakura was too tired to try and open her eyes.

"It's molecular structure was nothing I've seen before. My first thought was that it must have mutated from a previous illness. It's no wonder that the medics here couldn't heal it, though. The virus itself kept mutating rapidly, making it almost impossible to eradicate all of it from the host cells."

"Were you able to get it all?"

"Once I realized the mutation was working on a sequence of five mutations over and over, I could follow the path it created and remove it all. I was also able to figure out which sequence came first, and from which cell. It only took a few extra minutes per person, but by hardening the most vulnerable cells in a thin layer of chakra, they are a lot less likely to contract the illness again. The virus won't be able to get in."

Silence coated the room and Sakura felt herself get dragged further and further to sleep. She wasn't sure if she heard Kakashi's response correctly, or if she made it up. Either way, Sakura was gone before she could figure it out.

"You're incredible, Sakura."

Kakashi had a hard time pulling his eyes off Sakura's sleeping form. He couldn't believe how strong she has become, in some ways even stronger than him.

He thought about her blush after he chuckled. Her head was turned, but he caught a glimpse of her fiery cheeks without her noticing. Was it possible she was being affected by this new change in their dynamics as much as him? He wasn't sure if the thought of it made him elated or distressed.

At this point, he didn't know what he wanted. More than anything, he wanted to make sure she was safe.

Kakashi leaned back against the couch, settling himself in for a long night.